From The Board — 19Th March 2018Monday, March 19th, 2018

As members will be aware, last year`s AGM resolved that in order to effect a smooth transition to a revised timetable and Constitution, all existing Board Members would remain in office until March this year. The election process would thus be delayed until New Year 2018.

At the closure date for nominations to be to submitted (1st December 2017) there was one candidate and this person did not fulfil the criteria required of a board member of WCCC. On advice, this nomination was thus ruled invalid under the Club’s Rules.

Subsequent to this closing date, existing director Mr Paul Pridgeon who had not sought re-election indicated that he did now wish to continue as a non executive director; the Board were unanimous in welcoming him back on to the Board. Your agreement for him to be afforded a further three year term ( this will not take his service past the `nine year` mark ) is therefore requested under Item 8 on the AGM agenda on 21st March 2018.

Mr Tim Jones has indicated that for business reasons he would not seek re-election. Mr Neal Radford who would normally have served until AGM 2019 resigned in January 2018.

The Board wishes to appoint to the Board former player, Mr Gordon Lord (see biography). Mr Lord is an acknowledged world leader in coach development, following 25 years spearheading a coaching revolution at the ECB. England’s Rugby Football Union appointed him as Head of Professional Coach Development in early 2017. Mr Lord will automatically become eligible for re-election in a year`s time when the permitted number of former players on the Board will be reduced to two as Mr Tim Curtis completes his nine years` service.

Under the existing Rules the Board has also moved to fill `the elected places` in its number by the recruitment of Mr Richard Law FRICS (see biography), a former Senior Partner of Bruton Knowles, a national firm of Chartered Surveyors. Mr Law has many years of experience on boards and committees including Three Counties Agricultural Society and as a Governor of the Royal Agricultural College.

Again, the AGM will be asked to approve these appointments of two highly experienced candidates who will both make very important contributions to the future work of the Board.

A profile of both candidates is as follows:

ABOUT GORDON LORD

Career & Achievements:

During his 10 years as a professional cricketer, Gordon developed a deep interest in coaching; specifically the development of the ‘person’ rather than simply the ‘player’.

Whilst working for the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in a career that spanned 25 years, he spearheaded a coaching revolution within the organisation, developing the philosophies and structures that ultimately resulted in an elite coach development programme that supported the England cricket teams’ rise to the top of the world rankings.

Gordon is an acknowledged world leader in coach development, a fact not overlooked by England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU), who appointed him as Head of Professional Coach Development in early 2017.

At the RFU he is currently building on his success in cricket to create a professional coach development system, drawn from Premiership coaches, capable of regularly producing individuals with the calibre to lead a successful National team.

His enduring curiosity and drive is valued professionally and personally by everyone he comes into contact with, particularly the many hundreds of cricket coaches whose professional and personal development he has supported over the years.

Gordon’s personal development includes:

• ECB Advanced Coaching Award
• NLP Practitioner – 2009 / NLP Master Practitioner – 2013
• MBTI Practitioner (Step 1 – 2003 and Step 2 – 2010)
• Hogan Practitioner- 2011
• Action Types Approach Practitioner 2012
• He is Currently undertaking the UK Sport Mentoring in Elite Sport
• Programme at Ashridge Business School – ILM Certificate in Performance Coaching
Corporate Work:
As part of his own development, Gordon has offered his support to a range of other organisations including; The English Premier League, UK Sport, England Squash and Eli Lilly.
This work has encompassed one to one mentoring and coaching as well working with Senior Teams to facilitate their learning and development to be the best they can be.

ABOUT RICHARD A LAW FRICS

Previously as Senior Partner of Bruton Knowles (Property Consultants and Chartered Surveyors), Richard took the practice from a traditional rural Gloucester-based entity to a national practice providing services to the private, corporate and public sector. Richard acted as Senior Managing Agent for the Crown Estate for Wales, West of Severn, and Taunton and Dunster Estates.

Richard has extensive experience of public sector procurement and of providing estate management and valuation services including property audits and performance audits to county, borough, district and city councils, police authorities and utilities. Former clients include Buckinghamshire County Council, Surrey County Council, Wolverhampton City Council, East Midlands Electricity, Defence Estates and the States of Jersey.

As a Trustee of the Three Counties Agricultural Society (1983 to 2009), serving as both Chairman of the Management Committee and as a member of the Council (1993 to 2005), Richard guided a restructuring of the organisation to facilitate the changes required to ensure the society moved forward with effective governance and a business-like approach to a not for profit charity.

He was appointed as a Governor to the Royal Agricultural College (now the Royal Agricultural University), assisting in taking it forward to achieve university status which required compliance with and adherence to all protocols in addressing the appropriate standards for governance as set down by HEFCE.

Richard currently advises in the private sector mainly within trusts as a Trustee, or giving advice on restructuring of businesses as part of tax planning, including property portfolios; his experience also covers strategic client management, regeneration and facilitating development (options, site promotion through the planning process and sales with overage), procurement advice and option appraisals.